1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly, to an LCD whose pixels have increased effective aperture ratios and thus improved light transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are among the most widely used types of flat panel displays (FPDs). An LCD includes a liquid crystal layer between two substrates with electrodes. The LCD rearranges the molecules of the liquid crystal layer by applying voltages to the electrodes to control the amount of light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer to display a desired image.
LCDs can be easily made thin and can consume relatively little power and generate hardly any electromagnetic emission dangerous to humans. However, their lateral visibility is poorer than front visibility. To overcome this drawback, various proposals have been being made as to arranging liquid crystal molecules and driving the LCD. These proposals include patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode LCDs which are vertical alignment (VA) mode LCDs having slits for domain partition, and in-plane switching (IPS) mode LCDs which employ transversal fields.
However, PVA mode LCDs frequently exhibit texture or afterimages and are limited with regard to a wide viewing angle. As to the IPS mode LCDs, such LCDs have a relatively low luminance since their common electrode reduces the aperture ratio. Thus, IPS mode LCDs require a high-luminance backlight.
Plane-to-line switching (PLS) mode LCDs, which employ the transversal field method like IPS mode LCDs, are drawing attention since they can have a wide viewing angle and a high luminance. However, in a PLS mode LCD, the liquid crystal orientation in a region around a pixel cannot be controlled due to the lateral field associated with the data line. This region can be shielded out by a black patch, but this reduces the LCD luminance.